Kirkstall Abbey sightings

During a rare moment this weekend when I wasn't glued to the TV, we wandered down to Kirkstall Abbey. There were Small Tortoiseshell butterflies  (8+) in the herb garden opposite Kirkstall Abbey. 3 Brown Hawkers zipped around the garden, and we found one Banded Demoiselle on waterside vegetation by the River Aire. Earlier in the week we walked around Kirkstall Abbey Park at dusk to test a bat detector and found 6 Pipistrelles by the river, very exciting.

Lunchtime stroll

At lunchtime, in the scorching sunshine, I ventured out beyond the campus, via Queens Wood and across the land adjoining West Park playing fields. On the way I saw Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldfinch, Long Tail Tit, Jay, Robin, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Blue Tit, Wren. The view above is  from the top of the hill with the university sports pitches behind me, looking across to West Park. Its a nice open area of uncut grasses, cow parsley with occasional patches of buttercup and bluebells bordered by an assortment of native deciduous trees.

This is the view at the base of the hill, looking towards Spen Lane, West Park Centre is just visible far right, Norman Towers is visible between the trees, left of centre. The grassland is full of buttercups, dandelions and red clover pictured in more detail below. Strangely I spotted only one butterfly in this area today, a Small Tortoiseshell.

Here's the Small Tortoiseshell nectaring on a buttercup. I had a little more luck on the walk back spotting a Holly Blue, two male Orange Tip, and two whites on the wing at a distance. Its a nice patch and one I'll try to visit more regularly.

Kirkstall wander, Kirkstall Hill

A couple of days ago, I wandered over to Kirkstall Hill, where I immediately recognised the call of a Chiffchaff and caught a quick glimpse before it disappeared but continued to remain in the area. The blackthorn were flowering & birches were full of catkins.

Kirkstall Hill is a small (200m x 150m x 150m ) unimpressive triangular section of west facing greenspace located at the busy crossroads of Kirkstall Lane and Kirkstall Hill. Half of the area is grassland with shrubs, brambles and deciduous trees  bordering the remaining area, Hawthorn, Birch, Laurel, Holly, Ivy, Oak, Blackthorn. Kirkstall Hill was the site of an old quarry, owned by Reffitts, a firm of dyers based on Kirkstall Road, (thanks to Andrea for her help). The most notable feature is the view from the hill up along the Aire Valley which is pretty impressive on a clear day.

As well as the Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Long Tail Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Blackbird, & Wren were all active in the surrounding trees and shrubs.

The only butterfly in view was this Small Tortoiseshell.

Birch catkins were showing well, you can clearly see the difference between the longer hanging male catkins and the smaller upright female catkins, as the fresh shiny finely toothed leaves  are starting to unfurl.

Adel churchyard sightings

On a visit to St John the Baptist Churchyard in Adel I spotted a pair of Jays sunning themselves. The first one basking on the ground made little effort to rouse itself until disturbed by visitors heading in its direction at which it hopped into the holly tree above while the other moved into dappled shade on a nearby headstone.

After last weeks first butterfly sighting of the year at Rodley, I saw two more Small Tortoiseshells in the churchyard and watched a couple of Peacocks spiral up into the sky, despite my best efforts to track them down I managed to find one only for a brief moment pointing the camera in its direction before it disappeared again.

Staveley

The Yorkshire Wildlife Reserve at Staveley was a nice surprise as I didn't realise the scale of the reserve, it comprises a lagoon, woodland, grassland and shallow ponds, and covers approximately 40 hectares. The 2 hides overlooking the water were locked at the time of visiting but it didn't hamper our enjoyment of the area.

We spotted 8 Meadow Brown, I was confused about the identity of this first one until it revealed the front underwing.

A Small Tortoiseshell landed to feed on Red Clover and gave great views of both its upper and underwing. Other butterflies included 10 Ringlets, 6 Small Skippers, 6 Speckled Wood.

Its a good time for wildflowers in bloom, including one of my favourites, this Field Scabious Knautia arvensis.

At one of the ponds I watched three Damselflies ovipositing in a relatively small area within close proximity to each other. Unfortunately the pics didn't come out too well but I did manage to salvage this shot which shows two close together.

Rodley Nature Reserve

A highlight of a weekend trip out to Rodley Nature Reserve were the Common Whitethroat, a summer visitor to the reserve. A first positive sighting for me, id'd with the help of friendly fellow visitors. Armed with the ability to put a name to a feathery face, it became easier to spot them due to their habit of perching conspciuously on the tops of bushes and tall weeds. These two hung around by the Dragonfly ponds.

This Great Tit popped its head out of the bird box situated in the Dragonfly ponds area.

Butterfly action consisted of four Small Torstoishell, two by the pools and a couple in the Meadow.

On the way to the Visitors Centre for a cuppa and to pick up a copy of the Annual Report for 2009 another Common Whitethroat appeared in the vegetation on the edge of Tim's Field.

Refreshes and refuelled I made my way up to the meadow, I followed the mown path up to the far end of the field and sat for a while to admire the view. I became engrossed in the thin stemmed flowering perennial grasses with densely packed spikelets Common Timothy (Phleum pratense) or Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) perhaps?

Looking down over the reserve I couldn't help but hear these three Mute Swans raise themselves from the wetland and head off downstream together.

Here you can see the stamens more clearly, grey at first, turning brown with time, maturing from the top of the spikelet to the bottom.

Rodley Nature Reserve

Making the most of this weekend's fine weather we stayed local and visited Rodley Nature Reserve. The vegetation was first to catch the eye, the coppiced Willows were laden with catkins and these hedgerow trees were covered in delicate white blossoms Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) perhaps? Five petalled flowers appear before the leaves, clustered in groups of 2 - 6.

Over in the Manager's garden, 5 Reed Bunting, this one a male.

And a pair of Bullfinch, the male had such a strikingly red chest, other woodland visitors included Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Wren, Blackbird, Robin and Chaffinch.

Viewed from the hides, a Little Grebe, a pair of Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Coot, Canada Geese, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Wren, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Mallards.

During our visit we saw at least three Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on the wing, and three white species that I'd guess to be Small White's but couldn't be sure. This Small Tortoiseshell was the only butterfly to rest, basking in the sunshine for a few seconds before taking to the air.

A beautiful Cowslip (Primula veris) in the Wildflower Meadow.

Near the riverbank this Butterbur (Petasites hybridus), a perennial plant with pink/red tubular florets in robust vertical spikes, leaves are stalked and heart shaped and can grow up to 1m.

The Dragonfly Ponds were popular with visitors this weekend, especially as there were lots of these Common or Smooth Newts to see,

and toads, plus endless strings of toadspawn.

Beckett Park & St Chads Churchyard lunchtime wander

Today Beth joined me for a woodland wander and we ventured down to St Chad's Churchyard, a few minutes walk away. On the way we saw Mistle Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbirds aplenty, Wren, Chaffinch, Wood Pigeon, Magpie and Jackdaw. In the churchyard, from a distance we watched a Blue Tit check out a potential nestbox. With the help of Beth's eagle-eyedness (she's very good, I'd recommend her to anybody out on a nature walk) we spotted a Small Tortoiseshell on the wing, second butterfly of the year in two days!